Camillo Valota

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Don Camillo Valota (born October 27, 1912 in Bormio ; † November 2, 1998 ibid) was an Italian pastor and resistance fighter against National Socialism . He was named after the literary figure Don Camillo from Don Camillo and Peppone by Giovannino Guareschi .

Life

Don Camillo Valota was ordained a priest in Como in 1937 and was pastor of Frontale di Sondalo in the province of Sondrio . After the armistice of Cassibile he joined the 2nd Brigade of Stelvio . He saved the lives of some Jews who were led across the Swiss border by this partisan group. As a result, he was targeted by the fascists of the Italian Social Republic . He was captured on April 29, 1944 and initially taken to San Vittore prison in Milan . His ordeal led via the transit camps in Fossoli and Bozen to the Mauthausen concentration camp on August 7, 1944 . The Gusen concentration camp followed a week later , until he was last brought to the Dachau concentration camp on November 29, 1944 . In one of the numerous camps he met the writer Giovannino Guareschi, who later used Valota's name in his series of novels Don Camillo and Peppone . Whether Guareschi also processed Valota's character traits is controversial. The most important role model for his Don Camillo is Don Alessandro Parenti .

After the war, Valota was able to continue his spiritual activity. He became chaplain for Italian immigrants in France. From 1948 he worked in Lyon and later in Montceau-les-Mines . There he mainly took care of migrant workers who worked in the coal mines in eastern France, although he was not only active in pastoral care, but also took on many social services, such as looking for accommodation and helping with bureaucratic hurdles.

At the age of 86 he died in 1998 in his hometown of Bormio.

literature

  • ANED: Don Camillo Valota . In: Irmgard Aschbauer, Andreas Baumgartner, Isabella Girstmair (eds.): Freedom is in fact alone. Resistance to National Socialism for religious reasons. Biographies and contributions to the 2009 International Symposium . Edition Mauthausen , Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902605-17-7 , p. 199 f .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Don Camillo est mort. AFP report in Le Soir , November 6, 1998, p. 30 , accessed on November 19, 2017 (French).
  2. ↑ Morto a Bormio don Camillo Il suo nome ispiro 'Guareschi. In: Corriere della Sera . November 5, 1998, p. 49 , archived from the original on October 5, 2012 ; Retrieved November 18, 2017 (Italian).
personal data
SURNAME Valota, Camillo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Valota, Don Camillo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian pastor and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Bormio
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1998
Place of death Bormio